Why Arctic Norway?
After a 2-week retreat at Plum Village Bordeaux, I flew to Tromso looking for Northern Lights. Though I was passing through Tromso a few times, I had never visited it. As solar activities have been very strong in 2024 resulting in spectacular display of Northern and Southern Lights on numerous occasions, I decided to try my luck as I had a gap of about ten days before joining a tour in Saudi Arabia on December 20. I planned to spend a few days in Tromso before taking Havila Cappella to Bergen. My friend Sau heard about my planned journey in October and decided to join.
Tromso December 7- 12, 2024
Located within the Arctic Circle, the town of Tromso with a small area of about 14 sq km and a population of 42,000, is the largest urban area in Northern Norway and the world’s third largest north of the Arctic Circle (following Murmansk and Norilsk in Russia). The city centre of Tromso contains the highest number of old wooden houses in Northern Norway. It is a cultural centre of its region and became known as the “Paris of the North” during the 19th century. Though the sun remains under the horizon for six weeks in Tromso, it is never completely dark. The polar night in Tromso is between the 27th November and 15th January. Around 1-2 pm in the afternoon, the residual light is reflected off the blue sea and the white snow, the arctic landscape glows in a glassy magical deep blue colour (known as the blue moment/hour). On clear days, beautiful sunset colours can be seen in the south while the sky to the north is a deep midnight blue.
I arrived after 1 pm at the Tromso airport and took a taxi to Havblikk Hotel near the Arctic Cathedral. It cost over 300 Norwegian Krone (NOK) for about 6km. The ground was covered with snow and I took extra care when walking. I only made a trip to the nearest supermarket to get food. For the rest of the day, I did nothing but hibernating in my simple cosy room watching snow and the white world outside.
Before Sau’s arrival around midday on December 8, I walked to the Arctic Cathedral (it is actually a parish church and its official name is Tromsdalen Church). I sat in silence for 15 minutes and left before the Sunday service began at 11 am. Completed in 1965, it is known for a glass mosaic titled “The Return of Christ” added in 1972, which is best seen inside the church during the midnight sun. In winter, one can only take a photo of the colours of the mosaic glass from the outside! Owing to my inertia on arrival, I missed a concert at the church which was held on December 7.
When Sau arrived in early afternoon, we walked over the bridge to explore Tromso centre. We walked very slowly on the icy surface with a walking pole. We did not go far nor had we done much. We went to the operator of “Silent Whale Watching” at the Bus Terminal only to discover the trip Sau booked had been cancelled owing to poor weather. After asking about the itinerary, I decided to join as I had not been visiting the area during my previous whale watching trip. We also purchased a 7-day bus pass (249 NOK for seniors) and a ticket for the cable car and the Arctic Cathedral for 518 NOK. In the evening, we walked to the cable car station and took a ride to the top hoping to get a glimpse of Northern Lights if the sky cleared up. We had no chance and returned to our hotel at 10 pm.
On December 10, Sau and I got up early to take a bus to the bus terminal. The electric boat was full and departed shortly after 8 am. The weather was so-so with moments of Polar light, strong wind, choppy sea, rain and snow. We spent over three hours before reaching the area where whales had been spotted. We were lucky: I was well-positioned on the upper deck when a young humpback male jumped out of the water several times in front of my eyes. I tried to use my camera with a long lens without success. Had I used my mobile phone, I should have been able to capture the magical moment! As a dozen of boats rushed to our location, our boat moved on. Then we saw another group of humpback whales. This time, I simply used my phone and got a few images. It started to get dark when we made our way back to Tromso where we landed at 5pm.
It was a busy day. As we had already booked a small group Northern Lights tour, we stayed on in town. We were surprised when a driver told us to get into a 7-seater instead of a minibus for 15 passengers. Janet and Bill from Hong Kong were the only two passengers. We were delighted to have a small group. Jodnas, our lively Spanish driver drove three hours to a small frozen lake in Finland. The weather improved soon after leaving Tromso and we began to see the moon and stars. Jodnas set up a fire and we had a hot soup. Weak Northern Lights began to appear and Jodnas was busy taking photos for us. Then to Janet’s surprise, Bill knelt down making a proposal with Northern Lights as the background. How romantic! Billy and Jodnas worked on this secretly in order to give Janet a surprise. Sau and I were lucky to be selected to travel with them. Though I have seen more vibrant and stronger lights, I find the occasion touching and memorable. It is joyful to meet this lovely young couple from Hong Kong (both are 29). We were back in the hotel after 2:30am. We were dead tired!
We had a rest day on December 11. As we had bought a bus pass, we took a ride to Telegrafbuka at the eastern tip of the island. (This is the beach people gather to watch the first glimpse of sun in mid January). It was the blue hour: I saw the orange sunset, glassy deep blue in the sky and a bright moon. I was thrilled and amazed by the ever changing colours. Less than ten minutes later, heavy snow fell and all colours vanished. When we got back to the town centre, we went to a restaurant and had a pizza. The portion is exceedingly large and we had to take half of the pizza home. A quiet and relaxing day!
December 12 was our last day in Tromso. We joined a half day Arctic Landscape Tour which started at 10am. Once again we shared a 7-seater with a Japanese couple and two Korean young ladies. We went to Kvaloya Island and made a dozen stops. The weather was unstable and windy. Luckily, there was fresh snow. We got in and out of the minivan and I was tired of putting on and off the jacket. Anyway, we were lucky to have a few clear moments that enabled us to appreciate the blue hour and Arctic landscape. It got pitch dark by 3 pm and we were back in Tromso before 4pm. As we were unable to go onboard Havila Capella till 11:45pm, we stayed in the hotel till 10 pm before heading to the bus/cruise terminal.
Tromso – Bergen December 13-16, 2024 (to add)
Remarks (to add)